All questions tagged Oliver Wyman interview - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi there,

I had the same experience when I interviewed with OW – I interviewed with the country MD during the 1st round.

You should prepare in the standard way: fit, case and prepare your questions at the end. In my specific case, the interview was purely based on fit questions.

With partners, you may expect that they:

1. Spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company
2. Check more closely your communication (eg how you react to challenging questions)
3. May not have a “proper” structured case to present.

So in order to prepare, I would concentrate on the following:

• Review in detail your fit stories. As mentioned, in my MD interview I had exclusively behavioral questions
• Work on your communication (reaction under pressure, how to gain time when you do not have a structure ready, connect with the interviewer, etc). This is something you can do almost exclusively in interviews with peers.
• Prepare cases as usual. OW specifically tends to have more market sizing than other companies

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Could you clarify if you're asking about the experienced hire path for obtain an interview OR during the interviews?

To obtain an interview, you can improve your odds by making sure you have a top-tier resume and have networked (ideally getting a referral)

In regards to networking tips:

a) Reach out to people in your network

b) Reach out to people once removed from your network

c) Reach out to people with a similar backgorund to you (i.e. same alma mater, same historically underrepresented demographic i.e. gender, orientation, ethnicity, etc., same career switch, etc.)

d) Tailor a message to them specifically both showing interest in them and their journey and demonstrating that you have done your research and could be a valuable hire

e) Play "tag" across calls you get so that you can work your way towards the company/office/role you want

f) Never directly ask for a referral, but "hint" at needing one (this is nuanced and important...happy to talk through wording)

In terms of experienced hire interviews

Take a look at the following prior Q&As:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/regarding-experienced-hire-final-interviews-7681

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/industry-knowledge-required-in-interview-experienced-hire-6096

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-round-1-experienced-hire-8012

Hi there,

I would take these factors into consideration:

1. After shifting to the pricing per movie, the sales and marketing cost will increase, because now we are not seling a package, but single movies, hence single movies need to be promoted.
2. When we have a package, there is a tendency to binge watching, so you end up watching movies that you not necesserily like. With per movie pricing, the customer will be more cautious, and probaby the consumption of movies will reduce.
3. DVD-player and similar will come in much more closer competition. A DVD you buy and you can keep it whereas a movie on Netflix you can't possess. So you'll have to compete in price with DVDs.

Factors 1&2 will increase the price, but at the same time your price should be lower than your competitor's from factor 3.

Hope it was helpful,

Cheers,

GB

Hi Anonymous,

usually it takes around 2 weeks until OW gets back to you, so over a month is indeed a little long. However, it should not be a problem to send a friendly email and ask for an update á la "I just wanted to make sure you don't need anything else from me in order to proceed with my application".

Best

Dorothea

Hi Anonymous,

While first round interviews are much more predictable and standard, final rounds can be the same but can be completely different.

Partners are smart and do whatever they think brings the most value at any given moment. Just be prepared to handle anything.

For preparation though, do the same from 1st rounds and focus in general more on personal fit prep and specifically on those areas which might not have been fully convincing in first-round interviews.

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote below!

Robert

Hi,

Agree with Nuno!

1. You can have some "strange" fit questions, like "What you will do if you become a president". Seems you can't prepare for these
2. Most probably you will have several brainteasers, so read the books "How to ace brain teasers interview" and "Are you smart to work at google?"
3. In addition to regular cases prepare for market sizing since this is the most common type in unstructured interviews
4. Since Oliver Wyman is heavily specialized on banking - learn a lot about it. (i.e. corporate and retail banking products, how bank accounts profit = interest income + commission income + transaction income - funding costs - provisions - FC, etc)

Hi Anonymous,

pre-screening interview calls are usually fit-only calls, where you are judged on attitude, personality and communication. The usual questions are the same you would get in the fit part in the actual interview; the most common ones include:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why do you want to work for in our industry/company
• Tell me about a time when you failed
• What are your three top strengths and weaknesses
• Tell me about a time when your idea was criticized
• Which role do you play in a team
• Why should I hire you

Sometimes, in particular if you perform very well, you may also get a mini case (usually 10 minutes max). Given the limited amount of time and the fact that you are over the phone or on Skype, that usually is based on market sizing.

One thing many candidates neglect to do at this stage is to prepare their own questions. Relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post you can find some more information on the ideal type of questions to ask at the end of your call:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi Najla,

You should expect the following:

1. An online assement

• Numerical test, and in some cases, a verbal reasoning or a personality test

2. First round case interviews

• Standard Fit/Behavioural + Case Interview (candidate-led)

3. Second round case interviews

• Fit/Behavioural interview
• Case interview (candidate-led)
• Case presentation - 30 minutes to read through material and 30 minutes to present + answer questions

In terms of case types I honestly recommend you prepare for all case types (always best to be ready for anything and to learn how to be adaptable). However, if you are limited in time, make sure to focus on:

• Financial cases (i.e. M&A, Profitability, etc.)
• Org/re-structure
• Digitization
• Operations
• Pricing, Sales, and Marketing

Hello Jirapat,

based on disciplens you've mentioned, there are 3 key areas in which you need to obtain fundamentals:

1. Basic Corporate Finance (valuation techniques)
2. Basic Financial Accounting (understand terminology like: Accounts Payable/Receivable, and be able to "read" Balance, P&L, CF)
3. Basic Managerial Accounting (especially i recomend to focus on cost structures and behaviours)

There are two ways to do so:

1. Available consulting preparations services which are FREE, and contain all 3 components and application frameworks in a single course (reasonable solution if you're quite short on time, pragmatic and quite practical; - however lacks some "academic" level knowledge).
2. Study your way more "academicaly" (Libby/Libby/Hodge for deep understanding of FA, as example), use services like OpenTuition and focus on Fundamentals of CFA/CIMA/ACCA.

Hi,

I also interviewed with them in the past and received an offer. The most important thing, in addition to the usual ones (Why the Firm, Enthuisiasm, Why consulting...) is to give them a sense that you know what the Public sector environment in Middle East (especially Saudi Arabia, as they are working mainly there) is about.

So they may ask you some cases that involves the Vision 2030, the key priorities for Saudi, the Approach to Turism, which are the key sectors that they should consider to growth the economy, How much is important for them to differentiate by oil...

Give them a sense that you have made your research on the key macro economic problems and trends in Saudi/ Middle East and youll be in a good trajectory.

Hope this can help,

Cheers,

Luca

Couple of points to add to previous responses:

If you haven't done basic highschool maths in a while, I would revisit the topics of geometry/trigonometry, probability and basic statistics.

While I agree GMAT quantitative section is a good way to practice, don't go overboard with buying GMAT material. Also, only do the "problem solving" questions - the OW test doesn't ask any of the "data sufficiency" type questions. You can find plenty of free content online - also, you can download the "Gmat test simulator" for free and do the math section. Unless you are planning on doing the GMAT soon as well, I would not invest into materials to prep for this.

Finally, being able to fast mental maths is not important, since you can use a calculator. So don't focus on this for the test (but definitely practice it for the actual interview).

Hi Sophie,

You can find a lot of forums online where people share past questions and answers. It really helped me demystify the process and get actual insights in terms of what to expect. Bonus, the same questions sometimes come back!

Hi,

Oliver Wyman in London recruits non-graduates for entry-level positions if your work experience is lower than 2 years. They also sponsor your visa, even if it is an entry-level position. In order to get a better understanding of your fit, I advise that you reach out to HR.

Best,

Deniz

Although I do not think there is a definition of an ideal consultant as diversity is an important element of an ideal consultant team, you can have a great idea about profiles by checking LinkedIn profiles of senior consultants at the company.

Also had to do this for the London office earlier this week. There was no math just personality based questions. I'll let you know how it went once I hear back.

Dear John,

You absolutely shouldn't be worried. This is standard practice in some consulting offices and at the Big 4. It is usually a preliminary step before the first round of interviews, and usually takes place right before or after a numerical test (or at least that's the case at OW and the Big4).

These kind of tests (Psychometric Tests) help prospective employers gain insight into your personality, background, and psychological thinking, which in turn helps them determine your suitability for a particular position. They might also be helpful to you in that they might allow you to identify your strengths, abilities, and weaknesses.
There is no right way to answer a psychometric test: you must strive to answer all questions honestly and in the required amount of time. My only advice (but it's rather obvious) is to avoid giving answers that are self-deprecating, and to emphasise your ability to interact with people. Someone who presents themselves in the test as a shy, anti-social person risks not making the cut.

I have never heard anyone being rejected after taking a psychometric test, so I really wouldn't be worried. Good luck on the next steps!

It depends on the office, practice and the recruitment cycle. Usually takes about 2-3 weeks in the London office (if they haven't met their headcount target)

Got a similar case at McKinsey some time ago - I actually asked the same question here : https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/atypical-case-4501